velocity drives the explosions, so a 40 grain v-max out of a 22-250 will be pretty explosive.

not sure about ground hogs, but on prairie dogs a v-max + 22-250 = gagging spotter. won't get into too much detail, but things come unglued when hit by that combination.

Steve C

April 7, 2009, 12:25 AM

Any .22 hollow point bullet, including buk from Remington driven around 3000 fps, will fragment violently and blow up small varmints

lgbloader

April 7, 2009, 12:52 AM

Barnes Varmit Grenades are on the extremely Knarly side of the spectrum.
LGB

748

April 7, 2009, 01:53 AM

TNT
They come apart so quickly they wont go through a gallon jug of water.
I don't think they are designed for 22-250 speeds.
For a 22-250 you might want a 40gr bullet with a real jacket like a v-max.

loneviking

April 7, 2009, 08:37 AM

How about an 80 gr. 30/06 flying at about 3600fps do for you?

Whitman31

April 7, 2009, 09:02 AM

Had good luck with 50gr Nosler Ballistic Silvertips out of my 22-250. Wasn't impressed with the accuracy of the varmit grenades out of a 223. Hornady V-max does a nice job as well. Speed is the real key...

My 204 with 40gr Hornady's has produced my best combination of accuracy and giggle factor.

tapout08

April 7, 2009, 09:10 AM

36 Grain Barnes Varmint Grenade

jacob.elliott

April 7, 2009, 10:38 AM

+1 on the varmint grenade

Beagle-zebub

April 7, 2009, 11:01 AM

What about a heavier bullet, like the 55gr V-Max? (Is my inclination towards the heaviest possible varmint bullet foolish? I just keep thinking of what a target bullet is like.)

Whitman31

April 7, 2009, 11:34 AM

Heavier bullets will have a better B.C. usually resulting in better accuracy. You can't make them splatter if you can't hit them.

OTOH
Heavier bullets are usually moving slower, less velocity equals less splatter. My 22-250 make a bigger mess with 45gr bullets than with 55 gr bullets. But I'm more accurate with the 55gr rounds.

No wind, 200yds, use the light bullets. If the wind picks up and ranges reach above 200, switch to the heavier rounds.

Beagle-zebub

April 7, 2009, 01:54 PM

Ahhh, I see--the classic opposition of form and function. :evil:

33rowdy

April 7, 2009, 06:17 PM

I did hit a couple with a 36 Gr. varmint grenade. All it did was put a small hole it with the 22-250. Before I was able to find the VG's, I bought some cheap Wall*Mart Winchester 45Gr JHP. 40 pack ammo. That is not too bad.

Hesenwine

April 7, 2009, 06:30 PM

I use 55 gr. V-Max over Varget (can't remember the volume). REAL deadly at 400+ yards on ground hogs & we have some well-fed ones around here.

My rifle seems to love that combination and I've tried many others.

Ky Larry

April 7, 2009, 10:17 PM

50gr Hornady SPSX (SX stands for Super Explosive)

Whitman31

April 8, 2009, 12:29 AM

Hornady SPSX? Hadn't heard of that one yet...Gonna have to give it a try. Are we talking about prairie dogs here or the bigger critters that we Minnesotan's call Wood Chucks?

jacob.elliott

April 8, 2009, 10:37 AM

i know the vg in a 243 will do some damage with a yote head shot

NorCalRanches

April 8, 2009, 12:03 PM

Nosler B-Tip is my preferred varmint round. I load some 40 grain in .223, but mostly prefer 50 grain in all .22 cal rifles so I can use the same rounds on ground squirrels, coyotes, etc. They seem to expand great even on small squirrels when pushed at around 3300 fps or faster.

The Hornady V max round is great as well, but I can drive to the Nosler plant in a few hours and have become a little partial to them. I've got a friend who shoots nothing but the Hornady soft points (the "super explosive ones, I don't know the exact lettering) and they seem to have the same effect upon varmints as the fancy plastic tipped bullets. They will expand just as well on a small squirrel. The nice thing is he picks them up on sale, I know just a year or two ago he could buy them for $9/100.

While I've tried not to bash them too hard, I cannot support Barnes Bullets. First off, they realistically are not that great performance wise. The biggest problem is they are not that accurate. But don't believe me, try them yourself. I'm biased against Barnes as they have sold sportsmen out in order to promote their own 'green' bullets. When the California Dept of Fish and Game was considering banning lead bullets in the southern part of the state, they invited Barnes Bullets in to talk about lead free bullets. Barnes representatives flat out lied to the state commission, telling them that lead free products; performed as well as lead bullets, were readily available for all calibers, that lead free ammo was readily available, that there was a minimal cost increase with lead free, etc. Unfortunately the state commission believed them, and Barnes Bullets helped to get the lead ban passed in CA. While it doesn't affect me, I feel it is only a matter of time before this kind of foolishness spreads to the rest of CA, and as CA goes, so goes the nation eventually.

Therefore I refuse to ever buy a Barnes Bullets product.

Ky Larry

April 8, 2009, 01:14 PM

Whitman31, the Hornady part# is 2240. This is for a .224 cal 50gr box of 100 bullets. Hope this helps.

Clarence

April 8, 2009, 01:23 PM

The old Hornady "SX" bullets (Super Explosive) were fantastic, but the jackets were so thin you couldn't shoot em too fast or they would burn up before they hit the target.

I remember seeing the bullets leaving blue smoke trails as they burned up.

NCsmitty

April 8, 2009, 01:34 PM

Sierra has their "Blitz" bullets that are designed like the Hornady SX. Both of these have velocity limits due to their thin frangible jackets. A little too fast in a 22-250, and they'll vaporize on the way to the target.
They work well in 223, 222 and others under around 3500fps.

Ya, what Clarence said. lol

NCsmitty

mworkinger

April 8, 2009, 10:48 PM

nosler 50 grn at 3800 fps is explosive on praire dogs (makes em do flips and turn inside out) however the same round on groundhogs is less impressive because the animals are much larger they still get the job done though

epmn

April 9, 2009, 08:47 AM

All of pdog guns from 223 to 22-250AI are loaded with the 75gr A-max and it does a pretty impressive job when it hits.